In a typical fast food transaction, food items and/or drink cups are placed into a container that is most typically a food bag made of paper or plastic or a combination of paper and plastic. The server will then insert one or more napkins into the food bag. The napkins may end up on top of the food and drink items or at the sides of the food and drink items. Often, these napkins come in contact with the food and become soiled and/or wet which may make them unusable. It would therefore be desirable to place napkins into a container used for storing foods and drink cups in a location and manner that makes it less likely for the napkins to accidentally come in contact with any of the food items or drink cups.
Prior art references disclose a number of embodiments for attaching a napkin to a bag or enclosing a napkin to a compartment which have the potential for solving this problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,718 teaches a 3-compartment package and a method of making it. The package comprises an envelope where the sides of the envelope can be sealed to each other. Seals extend across the envelope defining three rectangular pockets, each closed on all four sides of the respective rectangles. The three pockets contain sugar for a beverage, a stirrer for the beverage and a napkin. The respective pockets are opened by tearing open the respective pockets as desired to access the contained product.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,372 relates to a bag/pouch made from a multiple layer material, wherein a pocket is defined at the top of the bag/pouch and between two layers. Cards, instruction leaflets and the like can be placed in the pocket. A tear tab facilitates access to the pocket without opening the sealed top of the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,164 refers to a paper or paper-like bag for enclosing a product. A separate pouch is attached to the bag blank and receives a thin promotional or gift card, or similar article. U.S. Pat. No. 2,474,784 shows a thin folded device structured somewhat like a wallet, designed to hold a short stack of folded facial tissue, and to dispense such facial tissue. The device can be carried in a handbag or purse in a compact orderly arrangement. A tissue can be dispensed from the dispenser without disturbing the other contents of the handbag or purse, and without disturbing the orderly arrangement of the reminder of the tissues.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,975,404 shows trapping an instruction sheet or the like between folds proximate, but displaced, from the top form the z-fold bag. The sheet is positioned adjacent an aperture in the wall of the bag, through which the sheet can be removed. The sheet is sealed closed, both at the top of the bag above the sheet, and below the sheet whereby the sheet can be removed from the bag through the aperture, without exposing the contents of the bag to the ambient environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 560,469 teaches an improved satchel having a plurality of pockets built into the walls of the satchel at the top of the satchel. Japanese patent JP 02003054575 teaches a packaging bag comprising a main bag with precooked food sealed, and an auxiliary bag/pocket integrated with the main bag so as to have an independent sealed space which contains a small damp towel.
US pre-grant publication 20020066133 teaches an adjustable disposable garment protector support adapted to support the garment protector from the neck of a user; a protector cover supported at its first end by the protector support in a position covering a front portion of the chest and stomach of the user; and, a pouch positioned on the second end of the protector cover, the pouch being formed to fold to one of a first closed position for storage and a second opened position having its top end opened and positioned to collect particulates and liquids moving downwardly along the front surface of the garment protector. The disposable garment protector may also be fabricated as a convertible food bag wherein a removable center section of the protector support is useable as at least one of: a napkin, a game sheet, an advertising display or a decorative display.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,756 discloses a bag for the storage and carrying of food with an attached napkin. The bag and the napkin are attached to each other by a seam or a glue line. The napkin may include a marker indicating where separation of the napkin should occur such as tearing, cutting or other manual action. The napkin may be folded and tucked into the bag following attachment. This structure has two drawbacks: 1) attaching the napkin to the top of the bag would likely require precise and thus costly registration of the glue line with the top of the bag; and 2) folding the napkin into the bag would result in an unattached bottom of the napkin inside the bag that makes portions of the napkin more likely to come in contact with the food and drinks placed in the bag.